World Economic Forum assessed in 2021 that cyber-attack is within the top 5 of risk business will face and continue to be so in the foreseeable future. Worse is that only 0.05 percent of companies can detect incoming attacks.

A thorough understanding of the impact of a cyber attack on businesses is essential for today’s business owners. This article will provide you with information regarding how it works, its impact, and what you can do to mitigate it.

How Cyber Attack Targeted Business

Today cyber attack on businesses is primarily conducted in three phases. By understanding these phases, businesses can create reliable mitigation plan in case such an attack happen.

Phase I: Reconnaissance

Phase one aims to determine how weak the target IT security is and how the bad actors can exploit those weak points. This phase allows bad actors to piece any information they can gather, thus revealing the critical weak points they can attack.

This phase itself is divided into two categories: active and passive reconnaissance.

• Active Reconnaissance: In this type of reconnaissance, bad actors will proactively try to collect target information. Ping or traceroute are among the tools used to conduct this reconnaissance.
• Passive Reconnaissance: Also called footprinting, this type of reconnaissance is conducted to less alert the subject of reconnaissance. The typical operation of passive recon is to visit the target website or look up any information in public records.

Both active and passive reconnaissance have their advantages and disadvantages. Active allows bad actors to gather more critical data at the risk of being detected. Meanwhile, Passive will result in less alert but also less reliable information.

Phase II: Infiltration

The next step, infiltration, is when bad actors take over the target’s network by exploiting known weaknesses from previous reconnaissance. Through this weakness, bad actors will gain access through remote access to the system administrator.

Phase III: Conclusion

Lastly, the third phase of the attack, the conclusion, will be the most known result of a cyber attack on businesses. Bad actors can now attack the target through remote access in the system administrator.

Most attacks will target data or credentials that then can be repurposed for further gains, such as monetary. Lastly, bad actors will either terminate the connection or create backdoors for future access.

Impact of Cyber Attack on Businesses

Cyber attacks on businesses will significantly impact both the company and its customers in today’s environment. IBM report that the average cost of a data breach in 2021 reached $4.24 million, up to a 10% increase from the previous year.

While pandemics play a significant role in shifting towards a digital environment for businesses, it also shows the readiness against cyber attack.

However, the cost is not the only impact cyber attack have on businesses. Here are some ways a cyber attack can hamper business.

• Operational Disruption

Operational disruption can be one of the intended or unintended results of a cyber attack operation. For example, bad actors can hamper business operations by installing malicious code or malware to destroy any critical data needed to perform its activity.

• Reputational Damage

Brand reputation is one of the things that businesses are trying hard to keep in a good light, and falling victim to cyber-attack may not be the best way to keep it. Both customer and business partner may see the business as less reliable and no longer trustworthy to work with or use.

• Stolen Intelectual Property

Intellectual property can also be one of the objectives that bad actors aim for when conducting cyber-attack on businesses. Company product design, technologies, and go-to-market strategies are some of the assets that bad actors are looking for.

Measure to Reduce Risk

With the increasing risk of bad actors stealing over operation-critical data, creating and implementing proper measures against security breaches become necessities.

While a dedicated expert is always preferable, businesses can take steps to reduce the risk of being a victim of a cyber attack.

• Reduce Data Transfer

Businesses can reduce data transfer between environments in and out of the IT system as the first step. As bad actors will try to find as many vulnerabilities as possible, access through data transfer can be the easiest way for bad actors to gain entry.

Businesses should keep crucial information in a separate business device, thus reducing the chance of access.

• Use Better Passwords

A complex password is the first defensive line against any force entry attempt into an IT system. By using a combination of words, symbols, and numbers with substantial length, it will make it more difficult for programs to force open the passwords.

Furthermore, the use of two factors authentication can help significantly in reducing the chance of unwanted access from stolen credentials.

• Update to the Latest Software

Software providers continuously provide better service and more secure versions of their applications. Updating their application to the latest version will allow businesses to avoid previously known vulnerabilities.

• Develop Response Plan

Lastly, developing a response plan to manage the response and recovery from cyberattacks will allow businesses to reduce the potential damage it may cause.

Do you know that cyber-attacks can happen even to the most careful and disciplined businesses. It is why it is essential to have a dedicated cybersecurity plan within today’s business environment.

Prepare Now

While in-house mitigation measures can slightly reduce the chance of data breach, it would be much better for businesses to have a dedicated cybersecurity team. Not only can it respond to the breach much faster, but it can also prevent such breaches from ever happening in the first place.

Therefore, Wowrack offers managed security solutions for businesses that need a dedicated cybersecurity team in their environment. With our service, you can:

• Expand existing IT security teams with our experts or let us fully manage your data 24/7,
• Receive information from our automated security detection and response, and
• Easily adjusted to your needs and standards.

To sum up, it is clear to see that businesses will be under constant threat of cybercrime in the future. Do not wait until it is too late! Let us help you secure your data and mitigate any vulnerabilities in the future. Let Wowrack helps you.

The post Impact of Rising Cyber Attack on Businesses Operation appeared first on Wowrack Blog.

The installation was completed at the end of March of 2018 and represents a follow-up to the partnership signing event that took place in 2016 at the Indonesia Infrastructure Forum in Los Angeles, CA.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with Telin and combine our expertise in infrastructure hosting and management with Telin’s experience in providing solid IP transit solutions.  With Telin and Wowrack combined, our customers can be assured of a quality service backed by the 24/7 support of both companies.” says Wowrack President, Erward Oskcar.  “We look forward to continuing to grow our partnership with Telin and combine our forces together to deliver a solid service all around.” he continued.

Telin CTO (Nanang Hendarmo) and Telin USA CEO (Joseph Raja) Visits Wowrack USA Headquarter in Seattle, WA

In Addition, Telin USA CEO, Joseph Sahat Raja, says “Wowrack offers the reliability and scalability that we need for hosting solution in the U.S. to our customer. With competitive prices, customizable plans and extra marketing tools to boost the performance, we believe our customer is happy with the solution from us.”

Both Wowrack and Telin USA look forward to the enhancement and strengthening of its partnership and will continue to work together through 2018 and beyond.

About Telin USA:

Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (USA), Inc. (Telin USA) was established on December, 2013 located in Los Angeles and becomes subsidiary with 100% of its shares owned by PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin). Telin USA performs telecommunications products, telecommunications services, Information Technology (IT), Information technology products and information technology services business. Telin USA have International 214 License and currently, Telin USA is also one of consortium members in the SEA-US (South East Asia – United States) submarine cable connecting Manado, Indonesia to Los Angeles, United States that was launched on August 2017. More information about Telin USA can be found at www.telkom-usa.net

About Wowrack:

Founded in 2001, Wow Technologies, Inc. (Wowrack) is a Hybrid Cloud IaaS offering various Cloud Services including Private/Public Cloud, Managed Hosting Solutions, Dedicated Server Solutions, Colocation, Backup and Disaster Recovery as a service, Virtualization and WAN Circuit Delivery. Wowrack competency includes being able to design, provision, implement, manage and monitor compliant application Infrastructure using secured hybrid cloud platforms. Wowrack currently has 7 global datacenter point of presence and is headquartered in Seattle, WA. More information about Wow Technologies, Inc can be found at www.wowrack.com

The post Telin USA and Wowrack Continue Partnership with Joint Deployment for Major Top-Level Domain Authority appeared first on Wowrack Blog.

Here’s why:

Expand Your Business

Choosing a cloud hosting option that’s scalable gives you the best opportunity to have your network grow with your business in the future. Many companies hold off on moving to the cloud because they feel as though they aren’t quite ready to do so. Perhaps they don’t yet have the funds or the client-base to make that kind of change. However, making the move to the cloud in the beginning stages will not only make your business more accessible to more people, but it will also allow you to save money in the long run. This is because most MSPs offer scalable solutions, so you don’t need to pay for what you aren’t using right now — you can always make the necessary upgrades later on.

Take More Time for What Matters

Turning to an MSP means that in addition to gifting your company a brand new infrastructure set-up next year, you will also have the support of a professional provider. This means they will manage everything, while you continue doing the many jobs you need to do as a company leader. If you have a lot of projects you’re hoping to get done next year, managing your network shouldn’t get in the way. Make it your resolution to work on what you need to do, while an MSP stays on top of the rest. After all, why risk losing all the hard work you’ve done when your MSP can provide amazing backup and disaster recovery solutions?

Wowrack wants you to be on the right track for next year. Contact us to learn more.

Keep the Important Jobs in the Hand of Professionals

Is not knowing who to trust holding you back from making some changes for next year? That’s understandable, and exactly why we stress the importance of making sure you can trust your MSP. This is why Wowrack offers data center tours to ensure you’re getting a good look at the services you’ll be receiving. Therefore, you can feel confident knowing that this important job lies in the hands of a  dedicated team of experts. There will always be someone available that can solve the problem your network may be presenting, but ultimately, the team will help recognize any problems well before they occur.

Also, it helps to know that if something does happen — for instance, a data breach — you won’t necessarily be the one held completely responsible.

Provide Consistent Customer Satisfaction

Lastly, a major goal you should have for the upcoming year is to continue growing that trust between you and your clients. One of the ways to achieve this is by maximizing your security standards, thereby ensuring your customers that you’re doing everything in your power to mitigate risks that could have the potential to leak their information. This is why, depending on the industry you’re in, it’s so important to practice compliance laws. Opting for the services of an MSP as one of your New Year’s resolutions will help you bring in more customers, and improve your CRM overall. Additionally, it will keep you safe from problems like shut-downs, delays, data disasters, breaches, and visits from auditors. A strong approach to this means happy customers.

So, what’s the hold up? Let us help you achieve the New Year’s resolutions you have for your company.

The post Turning to Managed Services Should be Your Company’s New Year Resolution appeared first on Wowrack Blog.

Not only is the cloud a great place to store your data, but having a professional manage it while you sleep is a huge weight lifted off your shoulders. Although each company may have a different infrastructure and utilization of the cloud, most users choose from the three main public clouds: Amazon AWS, Microsoft’s Azure, or Google Cloud.

But, what if you can’t choose just one? Or, what if you want the services of a cloud hosting provider, but you don’t want to stray away from what you’ve been using?

There’s a solution!

Why Flexibility with the Cloud is an Important Component

People like having choices, especially when it comes to the best interest of their business. One public cloud system might be a better suit for you than another. Depending on what your needs are, you might choose one service over another, or maybe you’ll choose components from more than one. This could depend highly on your budget, the scalability options of the cloud, or how flexible their plans are. Whatever the case may be, it’s important that you get those needs met and have complete accessibility to the cloud, or clouds, whenever you need it.

A Dual-Layered Cloud System

Let’s say you your business is being hosted on one of of these public clouds, but you want the additional support of a managed service provider. You don’t want to switch from what you’re currently using, since you’ve already got your business well invested in the cloud. How can you have both?

Some MSPs over a unique dual-layered cloud system, which allows you to connect to the public cloud you’re using via the MSPs data center. This means you don’t have to limit yourself and be locked within one cloud. You could think of this as an express connection through a port that allows you to go where you want on the cloud, when you want.

With Wowrack’s “MegaWow Direct Route & Express Route Cloud Cross Connections,” you can access the public cloud when you need it, all while getting the managed support you need.  Contact us today to learn more.

The Best of Both Worlds

With a unique option like this, the possibilities are endless. You’ll get the operating system and infrastructure support by professionals 24/7, security standards met, and the ability to freely move business data workloads. Also, by accessing the public cloud through your MSPs data center, taking care of business is easy with a simple control panel to manage your activity.

Pay as You Go

This is a very specific and interesting type of network arrangement, but guess what? It doesn’t need to be expensive. That’s because this kind of direct connect and express route service is pay as you go, on demand. So, no need to worry about spending money on it when you’re not using it!

Don’t settle for something that doesn’t quite fit your needs. Keep your options completely open and bring together everything your business relies on into one.

The post Expanding Your Business to Be On More Than One Cloud appeared first on Wowrack Blog.

Let’s run through a common scenario many businesses might face during typical power outages.

You walk into work today and unfortunately there’s no power in the building. The phones are dead, office refrigerator becomes a free-for-all, and the internet has gone kaput. Essentially, your business either becomes crippled or worse, completely shut down.

Sound familiar? Here’s the twist.

All is not lost. You decide to take your motley crew of co-workers to the nearest working WiFi hotspot. Buy a round of coffee for everyone and mooch off the free internet there while booting up your laptops. Phones get forwarded. Emails addressed. Communication lines begin to naturally open up with clients. And most importantly all your critical business applications are accessible.

Business continues to run smoothly and no one will ever be the wiser to know that you weren’t even in the office that day.

How is this possible?

This situation sounds like a dream, but it’s actually quite feasible due to the nature of cloud technology.

Many of your favorite quintessential business applications needed for projects or tasks can be hosted online in data centers that virtually (pun intended) never go down.

As long as you have an internet connection, you can securely access these applications as well as your data as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Data centers provide redundancy, backups, and failovers to protect your data from natural disasters to the most cunning hacking attempts. There are ample locations of data centers ranging from the west coast stretching all across to the east coast. Even globally as well, from Seattle, Washington to Hong Kong, China, there’s no shortage of server farms.

Deploying a cloud infrastructure makes it so you don’t even need to be in the office to function in the first place. Not only do you gain convenient access to your data or business applications anywhere at any time, other additional benefits include:

• Data backups and storage with automatic cycles and updates
• Less fatigue from your IT staff
• Cloud providers can maintain the heavy-duty IT hardware while you focus on your business
• Ability to scale up or down quickly within a pinch during peak times

What about the physical damage from power outages?

The basics of sudden power outages incur very little chance of physically harming your computer’s hard drives. What likely happens is that your computers suddenly becomes interrupted while in the middle of writing or modifying a file. When the power goes out, your computer becomes unable to complete whatever action it was doing. This is one of the main reasons why people lose large amounts of data.

Imagine working on an important project, when all of a sudden, initial flickering occurs (also known as a brownout). Just when you think you’re safe…poof goes the power.

Even for a microsecond, that sudden instance of power loss is enough to lose important hours on a large project or task. The data doesn’t simply vanish either. This is caused from the surge of disruption that happens in the middle of modifying the file.

If you’re the type of worker that takes the “Ctrl-S” approach to saving your work every few minutes, you might have only lost a few changes. However, what can truly devastate your files happens exactly the moment the power goes out. While in the midst of saving, files could get jammed with bits of the old and the new versions. That process corrupts the file and can potentially cause an incoming series of selective words directed at your poor computer.

Turning a negative into a positive

Power outages will happen occasionally. Instead of wasting time and resources doing nothing, what if you had the cloud supporting you? Now every outage becomes an opportunity to showcase your organization’s image. Maybe even use it as a chance for team building exercises!

• Snap photos of your team working out of the office and share them on social media.
• Stream or record the experience to visually tell your story as well as to personalize your company.
• With the publicity, you can show why your company can be trusted the most when it counts.

In short, a cloud environment will simply keep your business alive. Even in drastic weather conditions (when it’s not safe to commute to the office), employees can easily work from home. It’s very much possible and can even be more affordable than your current IT plan.

The cloud can go far to show what kind of company you want to tell people. Even during nationwide blackouts, armed with just an internet connection, business productivity can continue to flow so your revenue doesn’t ever have to slow down.

The post Outages And The Pursuit For Business Continuity appeared first on Wowrack Blog.